The Clean and Green Club

When I opened the book and read the first essay, I saw an ungrammatical mess. And my first thought was that if people tried to read that article, they would abandon the book and never get to my “brilliant thoughts.” So I had a self-interested motive to address that problem.

I went up to the publisher and told him that I thought that essay needed an edit. He told me that it had been pulling teeth to get that article in the first place, and he thought the author would not respond well to the idea of an edit.

This was a fun challenge. How would you handle it? (Hit reply or post a comment and tell me, and then scroll down to see what I did).

Order your copy of Shel’s newest book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World
Learn how the business world can profit while solving hunger, poverty, war, and catastrophic climate change (hint: they’re all based in resource conflicts). Endorsed by Chicken Soup’s Jack Canfield, business blogger and bestselling author Seth Godin, and many others. Find out more and order from several major booksellers (or get autographed and inscribed copies directly from me). https://goingbeyondsustainability.com/guerrilla-marketing-to-heal-the-world/
Download a free sampler with several excerpts, the complete Table of Contents and Index, and all the endorsements.

Millionaire Success Habits: The Gateway to Wealth & Prosperity by Dean Graziosi
My goals have always included making the world better and having a rewarding life. Although acquiring big buckets of capital has never been a particular goal of mine, I have striven for financial comfort, freedom to travel and enjoy pleasures such as live performances and great restaurants. And because I enjoy learning from smart people and I find many of the self-made wealthy are very smart, I’ve read several books on the subject.

Dean Graziosi is one of those very smart people. Overcoming a childhood as a classroom underachiever with learning disabilities and poor social skills, Graziosi has succeeded in multiple industries, and has many great lessons to impart. His accessible, down-to-earth style, willingness to admit and learn from his mistakes, and especially his amazingly positive attitude make this worth a read.

I don’t often find a book about getting wealthy that not only discusses such concepts as attracting what you desire (a/k/a Law of Attraction) but also include a little mini-Marketing 101 course. This one does, and that makes a lot of sense to me, since 1) many entrepreneurs are motivated by the possibility of wealth, and 2) entrepreneurship is often a much better route to that wealth. Some of his marketing tips:

• Transparency and trust, going in both directions, are essential to successful marketing—something I’ve been talking about since at least 2002, and built a movement around starting with my 2003 book Principled Profit, by the way (pp. 151-152).
• People buy not when they understand, but when they feel understood (p. 145)—and when you sell them what they want, and not what you think they need (pp. 155-157).
• Great marketing is often built around storytelling, as we’ve discussed here many times (pp. 157-162).
• When you’ve closed the sale, stop talking—or you might talk yourself right out of the sale (p. 162).
• Throw in unexpected bonuses (what New Orleaneans call “Lagniappe”) (p. 169).

Some of my many takeaways (or, in many cases, reminders), outside the marketing advice:

• Keep asking why until you get to the real issue (pp. 34-41). Graziosi follows one of his mentors and goes seven levels. In my own life, I find it can be more or less than that.
• Notice and list what you’ll no longer accept –and what you now demand (p. 67).
• You have the power to largely disarm the negative impact of other people’s words (p. 72)—I’m in only partial agreement with this one; yes, when it’s a comment made to you. But how do you undo the negative impact of comments behind your back, that you’re not even aware of?
• Frame things as positively as possible. For instance, transform overwhelm into “blessed with opportunity” (pp. 74-75). Look for ways to transform negative self-stories vby focusing on the good that came of those experiences. Graziosi found benefits in his dyslexia (p. 94); I have seen some positive outcomes in a bunch of difficult times from surviving childhood sexual assault to my parents’ divorce.
• Think of the difficult times in your past as “research and development” necessary to create your amazing future (p. 95).
• When something bad happens, find the best outcome; don’t seek revenge (pp. 197-108).
• Come up with a series of motivational mantras or aphorisms to get you over the rough spots. One of his is “if I can get through this, I can get through anything”—but he has several that he uses for different situations (p. 121-122).
• Having a “don’t-do list” may actually be more valuable than your to-do list (p. 128). Hire others to do the things on your don’t-do list that need to get done, but not by you, and save your own resources for the things you’re good at or the things it doesn’t make sense to delegate (p. 137).
• Abundance mindsets open us up to solving problems that seem insurmountable when we view the world as scarce (pp. 154-155).
• Happiness leads to success, not the other way around (p. 184).
• Live life and run your business with passion (p. 163), but don’t be rigid about outcomes; be willing, even, to embrace failure (pp. 195-197).

And some places where I disagree. He sees wealth as a primary goal. I see wealth as one among many paths to abundance. I see money as only being useful for what it can buy; the stack of greenbacks in your drawer and the series of ones and zeros in your bank’s computer file aren’t useful by themselves. It’s only because we’ve agreed that you can trade them for services, possessions, and good works. But there are plenty of other ways to acquire goods and services or do good works.

I also disagree with the decision not to have an index. When will authors realize that their books become 10 times as valuable with an index that lets readers re-find key concepts and names in seconds?

The best part of the book is chapters 9, 10, and 11, leading off with 10 success habits, moving on to 17 “success hacks,” and concluding with a road map for getting started in the next iteration of your life. These 48 pages starting on page 184 are gold. If there were nothing else of value in the book (and as you can see, there’s quite a bit), it would still be worth reading just for these three chapters.

About Shel & This Newsletter
As a green and social change business profitability/marketing consultant and copywriter…award-winning author of ten books…international speaker and trainer, blogger, syndicated columnist – Shel Horowitz shows how green, ethical, and socially conscious businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green, less-socially-aware competitors. His award-winning 8th book Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet was a category bestseller for at least 34 months (and is now available exclusively through Shel), his newest book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, has already won two awards and is endorsed by Jack Canfield and Seth Godin. Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.

Shel Horowitz’s consulting firm, Going Beyond Sustainability, is the first business ever to earn Green America’s rigorous Gold Certification as a leading green company. He’s an International Platform Association Certified Speaker and was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.He began publishing his monthly newsletter all the way back in 1997, making it one of the oldest marketing e-zines (it’s changed names a few times along the way).